Quinn’s Reply: “To bury my shoes, of course!”

Silly me. How could I have asked such a foolish question?  I stood in awe as I watched Quinn, along with five other campers, standing in a circle digging a hole with their hands. 

Now, if I were to take you back to day one of camp, you would hardly be able to recognize Quinn.

Quinn dragged himself off the bus with tears still streaming down his face completely silent. His parent is an alumnus who had strongly encouraged Quinn to go to camp, and Quinn agreed – begrudgingly.

As a staff member, there is nothing more distressing and challenging than seeing a camper completely distraught on their first day at camp. Homesickness, or as we call it, missing home, is normal, but it never stops breaking your heart to see a camper struggle.

For the first three days, Quinn was relatively quiet. He didn’t really want to be at camp. That didn’t stop his counselors and the rest of our team from supporting him and keeping him busy, the true antidote to missing home.  Over the next week, things slowly started to progress.

Day one Quinn agreed to play a game of box hockey.

Day two Quinn went to bed with a grin on their face.

Day three Quinn asked me to play a game of box hockey.

Day four Quinn sat down next to my daily reading spot in the middle of the village and built a miniature house fully out of sticks.

Fast forward to day ten, and Quinn had a full band of cabin mates around him digging a hole to bury his shoes. After 10 days of hard work, and real courage, that camper who came into camp nervous and anxious had done a complete 180.

Quinn brought humor to our village and started walking up and hugging people just because he could. 

He started setting booby-traps around the village, something we had to discuss, and thoughtfully concluded that traps were not safe or pleasant for those who fell into them. 

Yet, at that moment, I was not upset. I was proud—proud of the camper Quinn had become.

That is what Thunderbird is all about. Helping campers overcome hurdles throughout the summer to reveal their confident, goofy, adventurous version of themselves. A path more difficult to find at home.

By Quinn’s third year at Thunderbird and hours upon hours of blacksmithing, he became an expert. Quinn transformed from an insecure camper who slowly shuffled off the bus to the camper who was helping to teach blacksmithing by demonstrating J and S hooks to other campers. 

That is what we do here at Thunderbird.

Kids need that space to get dirty, find themselves, and realize that not everything in life is comfortable at first. And sometimes it takes ten days, thirty games of box hockey, and digging a hole to realize it.